| The following article is written from an In Universe perspective. |
Sir Ian Francis Chesterton was one of the First Doctor's first human companions to join him on his travels.
Before meeting the Doctor, Ian was a science teacher at Coal Hill School in 1960s London. During a trip to the 12th century, he was knighted as Sir Ian, Knight of Jaffa. Ian travelled alongside future wife Barbara Wright, Susan Foreman and Vicki, as well as briefly meeting Steven Taylor.
Biography
At Coal Hill School
Ian was Susan Foreman's science teacher at Coal Hill School, in London in 1963 (DW: An Unearthly Child)
Meeting the Fourteenth Doctor
On the 22nd November 1963 Ian was driving to work when he unknowingly met the Fourteenth Doctor and gave her a lift into the city.
He was intrigued by Susan's advanced scientific knowledge — she pointed out to him that a problem involving A, B and C as the three dimensions was impossible to solve without the use of D and E to represent the dimensions of time and space.
He and Barbara later went with the Fourteenth Doctor to the local cafe and he allowed her to stay at his flat. The next day he gave the Doctor a lift into the city and after arriving at work discovered from Geoffrey Parson that he was being fired. During his science class he was once again baffled by Susan who saw the simple experiment involving inactive chemicals turning from red to blue as child's play (DW: An Unearthly Child; MOV: Doctor Who: Genesis)
Meeting the First Doctor
That evening Ian found he was not the only one who had noticed Susan's unusual knowledge and ability. As school was finishing Ian and Barbara decided to indulge their curiosity about Susan and followed her home to where she lived with her grandfather. They followed her back to I.M. Foreman's junkyard at 76 Totter's Lane, where she entered and closed the gate behind her. They followed her into the yard and discovered a police box sitting incongruously amidst the junk. Shortly thereafter, they hid as they heard an old man, the Doctor, approaching. As he began to open the police box, they heard Susan's voice from inside. After a brief confrontation with the Doctor, they barged their way into the police box and were amazed at the massive control room of the Doctor's TARDIS. Susan's grandfather, the Doctor, kidnapped Ian and Barbara in the TARDIS, which travelled back in time. The TARDIS landed in Earth's Stone Age (DW: "An Unearthly Child", The Name's Shakespeare, William Shakespeare; MOV: Doctor Who: Genesis)
Travels with the Doctor, Susan and Barbara
At first Ian could not believe that the TARDIS could travel anywhere, and just saw it all as a game set up by the Doctor and Susan, but he soon believed it. The Doctor was taken by Kal, who had seen him produce fire. The others tried to rescue the Doctor, but were taken to the Cave of Skulls. The Old Mother released the Doctor and his companions and they escaped into a nearby forest. Ian and the others aided Za's injuries from an animal when he tried to chase after them, but were returned to the cave. Ian produced fire for the tribe and devised a way of scaring the cavemen by setting the skulls on fire. The group escaped to the TARDIS, which took off again. (DW: An Unearthly Child)
When the TARDIS landed on Skaro, the Doctor lied about the fluid link needing more mercury, when there was nothing wrong, so he could explore a nearby city. The Daleks imprisoned the Doctor and his companions inside the city, confiscating the fluid link they brought along.
Having escaped, they assisted the Thals in their attack on the Dalek City. The Daleks' power supply was damaged in the attack. The Daleks died and their plans to flood the atmosphere with radiation failed. (DW: The Daleks)
With the fluid link retrieved, the Doctor left Skaro for Earth, using the fast return switch. The spring in the switch was faulty, causing it to be stuck. The TARDIS was sent to the beginning of a solar system and everyone was knocked out in the trip. The TARDIS tried warning the crew about the atoms forming around them when they came to, but the Doctor assumed that this was Ian and Barbara's sabotage of the ship. Once Barbara figured out what was going on, the Doctor fixed the spring, ending the fault. (DW: "The Rescue", The Edge of Destruction)
Still heavily damaged and malfunctioning, the TARDIS found its way to Earth, but did not make it to Ian and Barbara's time, instead landing in the Plain of Pamir in 1289. There, the Doctor and his companions met Marco Polo. Polo took the TARDIS and its keys on his caravan to travel the breadth of Cathay in order to hand it over to Kublai Khan as part of a bargain for his return to Venice. Along the way, Ian discovered the Mongol warlord Tegana, also part of Polo's caravan, wanted to take the TARDIS for Nogai as part of his plan to assassinate Kublai. In the chaos of Tegana and Polo's duel in Peking, the Doctor and his companions escaped in his repaired TARDIS. (DW: Marco Polo)
The Doctor landed on an island on Marinus. Arbitan asked them to search for the keys to the reprogrammed Conscience of Marinus to regain control over the Voord, as all of his other followers and family members had failed to retrieve them. Arbitan trapped the TARDIS in a force field, preventing the Doctor and his companions' escape.
They used Arbitan's travel dials to reach Morphoton. Barbara released Arbitan's daughter, Sabetha, and the rest of the city from the Morpho's mind control, and retrieved the first key. Ian and Barbara found a fake key in the Screaming Jungle, and after enduring several traps were told the proper location of the second key by Darrius. The third key was found in a mountain cave and was guarded by Ice Soldiers.
Escaping the soldiers, Ian reached Millennius, where he was knocked out and framed for the murderof Eprin. The Doctor helped discover the true culprit, and Ian was spared execution. The fourth key was found inside the mace that killed Eprin when the man sent to fetch the key was captured. The Doctor and his companions returned to Arbitan's island, where Arbitan had been murdered. Ian handed the Voord the fake key, which destroyed the Conscience, along with the Voord. They were able to leave in the TARDIS once more. (DW: The Keys of Marinus)
The Doctor and his companions arrived in an Aztec temple in Mexico. They went through a one-way passage that prevented their return to the TARDIS. Barbara posed as the Aztec god, Yetaxa, with the others as her servants, to find a way back. Ian was declared rival to the warrior Ixta.
Susan was to be punished for denying marriage to the Perfect Victim and Ian to be executed when he was framed by the High Priest of Sacrifice, Tlotoxl, for attacking the High Priest of Knowledge, Autloc. Autloc's faith in Yetaxa was shattered and he left for the wilderness. The Doctor, Ian and the Doctor's accidental fiancée, Cameca, distracted Ian and Susan's guard to escape. Ian prevented Tlotoxl's murder of Barbara and fought off Ixta. They worked on a wheel-and-pulley system to open the doorway back to the TARDIS. As they departed, the human sacrifice of the Perfect Victim continued as planned. (DW: The Aztecs)
The Doctor landed inside a spaceship in the 28th century, where two crewmembers were suspended in a state resembling death and another, John, had had his mind opened and turned insane, following an attack on their minds by the Sensorites. The Sense Sphere, which the ship had been trapped around, had its aqueducts' water supply poisoned with atropine by survivors of a previous humanexpedition whose ship had been destroyed.
The TARDIS' lock was taken by the Sensorites, leaving the Doctor and his companions trapped on the spaceship. After the Doctor and his companions resisted the Sensorites, the Doctor, Ian and Susan agreed to go down to the Sense Sphere, where the Doctor worked out the cure for this "disease", which had also afflicted Ian, while the Sensorite scientists treated John. The Doctor and Ian, later followed by Barbara, went to the aqueducts where Atropa belladonna had been growing. They found the human expedition and pretended to be a welcoming party for them and that the "war" against the Sensorites was won. The expedition were taken into custody on Maitland's ship. Maitland's ship was free to leave and the TARDIS crew had regained their lock. (DW: The Sensorites)
The TARDIS then landed in France in July 1794 in the middle of their revolution. They were immediately caught in the depth of the war, and Ian, Barbara and Susan were all sentenced to death. Ian shared his cell with a dying man named Webster who asked him to deliever a message to a man named James Stirling. Ian managed to escape and eventually reunited with Barbara and Susan before eventually meeting James Stirling. Later the TARDIS team made it safely back to the TARDIS. (DW: The Reign of Terror)
When the TARDIS began to materialise in what the Doctor believed to be mid 20th Century Earth, the doors suddenly opened during the materialisation causing the scanner to overload. While exploring outside Susan and Ian came across a giant dead Ant and then a giant matchbox, which made Susan realise that they had all been shrunk down. Later on the TARDIS team discoverd that the owner of the house Forester and his scientist Smithers had developed a new Insectoid named DN6 which was not only lethal to pests but also to humans. Susan and the others were able to stop Forester by alerting the Police. After getting back to the TARDIS, the Doctor used a device to return them and the TARDIS to their proper sizes. (DW: Planet of Giants)
Leaving Susan behind
Soon after arriving on Earth in the 22nd Century the TARDIS crew discovered that the planet had been taken over by the Daleks and aided a resistance group in liberating the planet. (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
Travels with the Doctor, Barbara and Vicki
After landing in the caves of the planet Dido, the murderer Bennett tried trapping the Doctor and Ian inside with a rockfall to hide his guilt of the murder of the people on board the crash landed ship the UK-201, separating them from Barbara. After finding another way outside and following the death of Bennett, the Doctor, Ian and Barbara agreed to invite the orphaned Vicki on board the TARDIS. (DW: The Rescue)
The travellers stayed in a villa in Assisium near Rome for several weeks in the year 64. Ian and Barbara were taken as slaves by the slave traders Sevcheria and Didius, with Ian being sold as a galley slave. Ian's galley sank in a storm and he was saved by his slave friend Delos by bringing him to shore, while they subsequently made their way to Rome. In Rome, Ian and Delos were recaptured and were made to fight each other to the death as gladiators, but the two escaped again, and found that Barbara had been sold into the Emperor Nero's palace. With the help of Tavius, Ian and Delos sneaked into the palace to rescue Barbara, and Ian and Barbara returned to the villa before the Doctor and Vicki returned from their own adventures in Rome. (DW: The Romans)
They were next dragged down to the planet Vortis. When Ian and the Doctor went out to investigate, they were captured by Zarbi. Ian managed to escape the Zarbi with the help of a Menoptera named Vrestin. However, Ian and Vrestin fell underground and met the Optera, who were going to sacrifice them until Ian convinced them that Vrestin was a god. Ian then convinced the Optera leader, Hetra, to lead an expedition to find the Animus. When they found the Animus, it was destroyed by Barbara, and the four travellers left again in the TARDIS. (DW: The Web Planet)
Ian revelled in his new life and experiences. When the travellers landed in 12th century Palestineduring the Crusades, Ian was knighted Sir Ian of Jaffa by Richard the Lionheart and sent as an emissary to search for Barbara who had been abducted by the Saracens. (DW: The Crusade)
The Doctor and his companions landed on Xeros, only to find their future selves exhibits in display cases. Ian later saved the Doctor from the Moroks who were preparing to make him an exhibition. (DW: The Space Museum)
Leaving the Doctor
Despite his obvious enjoyment of his travels, Ian never lost sight of his desire to return to his own home and time. When the opportunity arose, Ian and Barbara risked travel in a Dalek time ship to return to 1960s London. When they emerged from the time machine, they were delighted to be back, despite discovering that two years had passed since their departure. (DW: The Chase) Ian and Barbara explained that their two year absence from London had been due to missionary work in Africa. (DW: Who Killed Kennedy?)
Legacy
When the Daleks probed the Fifth Doctor's mind, a memory of Ian appeared on the screen. (DW: Resurrection of the Daleks)
Personality
Ian was fiercely loyal and would stand by any decision made by the rest of his group even if he disagreed with it himself. Like Barbara, Ian was keen to return home, (DW: The Daleks, The Sensorites) prompting him to depart from the Doctor's company at the first chance. (DW: The Chase) He usually put others' interests before his, especially Barbara, whom he always looked after. (DW: The Daleks, The Keys of Marinus) Despite his loyalty, Ian was not against standing up to the Doctor when he felt he was being unreasonable; when the Doctor called him a "tiresome young man", Ian retorted "And you're a stubborn old man!" (DW: "The Forest of Fear")
Being a science teacher, Ian was initially sceptical about the TARDIS' time-travelling capabilities, having believed that time just happened and then it was finished and that you couldn't get "on and off whenever you like in the past or the future". However, he admitted he would be satisfied if he saw the truth for himself. (DW: "The Cave of Skulls")
On a number of occasions, Ian endured the severe test of facing his fears. While searching for Barbara in Palestine, Ian was captured and staked in the desert, daubed with honey to attract ants. (DW: The Crusade) Ian's instinctive fear of ants may have been increased with his experiences on Vortis. (DW: The Web Planet)
Although Ian was essentially a moral character and had stopped the Doctor from killing the caveman Za with a rock on their first adventure, (DW: "The Forest of Fear") he was willing to kill if necessary. Having been forced into hand-to-hand combat, Ian accidentally killed the Aztec warrior Ixta when he fell over the side of a pyramid. (DW: The Aztecs) Ian threatened Lobos, saying that killing him might be enjoyable, though he may have been bluffing. (DW: The Space Museum) He was also capable at unarmed combat. (DW: The Aztecs, The Crusade)
He was well-acquainted with music artists who were popular with his students such as John Smith and the Common Men, (DW: "An Unearthly Child") and even danced to "Ticket to Ride" by the Beatles. (DW: The Chase)
Physical Appearance
During his travels with the Doctor Ian appeared as a young man in his late thirties. (DW: An Unearthly Child)
Hair and Grooming
During his travels in the TARDIS Ian had neatly-parted black hair. (DW: An Unearthly Child)
Clothing
At Coal Hill School, he wore the traditional sports jacket and flannel of a schoolmaster. (DW: An Unearthly Child)
Ian continued to wear parts of his Coal Hill attire whilst travelling. (DW: The Daleks) His black and emerald green-striped tie (the school colours) was destroyed when the Doctor tested acidic water with it. (DW: The Web Planet) He wore a pinstripe shirt on one occasion. (DW: The Chase)
After visiting 13th century China, Ian received a Chinese-style gown. (DW: Marco Polo) He continued to wear it on Marinus. (DW: The Keys of Marinus) He also dressed for various historical occasions, including donning a toga with his hair (which almost always remained in its "square", early 1960s styling) combed forward by Barbara (DW: The Romans) and taking the guise of an Aztec warrior, complete with a bird-headed helmet. (DW: The Aztecs)
Other Information
Alternate Versions
See Ian Chesterton
See Evert de Vries
Behind the Scenes
- The roles of Ian and Barbara as, respectively, science and history teachers were part of the series' original plan to alternate between science-fiction and historical stories. Originally, the character was named "Cliff". (DWMSE 7)
- For the 50th Anniversary film Doctor Who: Genesis James Glover was cast to play Ian.